Late at night, Ye Sheng sat at the conference table, reviewing the resumes again.
He looked up and asked Aki, “Where’s that girl? I haven’t seen her all day; she didn’t even come for the interview, and she’s also one of the interviewer.”
“I don’t know where she went; she probably came just to play,” Aki shrugged. “There’s not much to be done; she’s still just a little girl.”
“How did the interviews go?” The door opened, and a man rushed in with a briefcase. “I bought a red-eye flight ticket and just landed, then came straight here.”
He was an old man, looking tired and dusty, with thick glasses on his nose. His hair was messy and gray, not styled but unkempt for who knows how long. He was wearing a sloppy suit and a pair of baggy pants.
“Professor Guderian,” Ye Sheng stood up. “We interviewed a total of 17 students…”
“Don’t waste time! I only came to ask about Lu Mingfei! I’m only concerned about Lu Mingfei!” Professor Guderian looked tense, as if he were a parent rather than an examiner. “Tell me, how did Lu Mingfei do?” This old man of German descent spoke fluent Chinese.
Ye Sheng and Aki exchanged glances, and Ye Sheng flipped to Lu Mingfei’s record page. He hesitated for a moment and shook his head.
“He left after just one and a half minutes,” Ye Sheng said.
“The strongest ones always finish their exams the fastest!” Professor Guderian exclaimed, elated.
“Um… for the first question, he said he believes in aliens because he thinks that if there are no aliens, humanity feels quite lonely in the universe…” Ye Sheng forced a smile.
“What a wonderful answer! I’m really touched by him!” Professor Guderian exclaimed, clucking his tongue in admiration. “Lu Mingfei is indeed worthy of it!”
“Is… is it really that wonderful?” Ye Sheng was stunned.
A moment of silence.
“For the second question, he also believes in superpowers. He don’t have any reason to explain…”
“Perfect!” Professor Guderian said decisively
“This is called… the perfect answer? This is… the answer proposed by the academy?” Ye Sheng and Shude Aki looked at each other..
“Let me explain it to you!” Professor Guderian said, “In the first question, he answered that he believed in aliens. Not only that, he also proposed the important concept of ‘loneliness’. The unity of our ethnic group is loneliness! These three words directly point to the core of this question. This question uses aliens to metaphorically illustrate the difference between our ethnic group and ordinary people. In the second question, there is absolutely no need for a reason to believe in something. What we call belief is a natural trust that comes from the heart. If he makes up a reason for trust, it will lose points. How did he answer the third question?”
“I don’t know…” Aki touched his forehead, “I mean, he said he didn’t know…”
Professor Guderian raised his head and took a deep breath. “If I didn’t know that he had such a strong bloodline advantage, I would have thought that he had peeked at the answer sheet.”
“The answer can’t be… ‘I don’t know’, right?” Ye Sheng scratched his head.
“The answer is ‘I don’t know’. His bloodline determines his worldview. As a person who straddles two races, his understanding of the world is somewhere between idealism and materialism. This shows his potential.” Professor Guderian said loudly, “A student with real potential will definitely have such hesitation in his understanding of the world!”
“Professor Guderian, this is purely… a cover-up, right?” Aki smiled bitterly.
Professor Guderian was stunned for a moment, and spread his hands, “Well… a little bit… but I really think his answer is very good…”
“I understand that the college will give a lot of convenience to students with bloodline advantages, but isn’t this kind of cover-up too blatant?” Ye Sheng shook his head. “If that’s the case, why are we still interviewing?”
“You don’t understand. It’s been decades since such an ‘S’-level candidate appeared. If we give a failing interview result… the principal will not let us go!”
Ye Sheng and Aki looked at each other, “Is it really… ‘S’ grade?”
“Yes, after repeated confirmation, his rating among all the candidates is ‘S’, the only ‘S’! This interview is actually prepared for him alone!” Professor Guderian nodded and lowered his voice. “This is the highest level of confidentiality in the academy, so I didn’t tell you before you left.”
There was silence.
“Ah!” Aki suddenly spoke up.
Professor Guderian clutched his chest. “Why did you suddenly scream?”
“I just remembered something awful. Professor, your favored S-Rank student… he seems to be very disappointed with his answers. After saying ‘I don’t know,’ he expressed his intention to withdraw and left the examination room directly,” Aki exchanged glances with Ye Sheng.
“Why would he give up after doing so well?” Professor Guderian was startled, almost jumping up.
“Questions like this and their matching answers…” Ye Sheng shrugged and smiled wryly. “Only you would think he did well, right?”
“We must fix this! We must fix it! I’ll call the student’s parents!” Professor Guderian searched around his body for his phone.
Ye Sheng scratched his head and sighed. “Let me make the call… You might scare the student’s parents into thinking you have ulterior motives.”
At three o’clock in the morning, when everything was quiet the phone rang loudly in Lu Mingfei’s house. His aunt woke up startled, sitting up and turning to see the phone on the bedside table ringing merrily, almost bouncing up and down.
“Did someone die in your family? It’s the middle of the night!” His aunt grabbed the phone and yelled angrily.
Soon, her anger faded, and she couldn’t utter a word. His uncle sat up from under the covers, seeing his wife’s hair disheveled, her gaze vacant, as if struck by lightning.
Lu Mingze was also awakened by the ringing of the phone next door. He turned his head and saw his cousin licking his lips in the bed next door, humming happily like a pig.
The next morning at the Regal Hotel.
On the ninth floor in the VIP dining area, Lu Mingfei’s entire family had come out in full force. His uncle, dressed in a sharp suit with a protruding belly, was educating Lu Mingfei and Lu Mingze on the etiquette expected in such a high-end establishment, advising them not to fidget with the cutlery. His aunt looked around, gasping in admiration, noting that this high-class hotel really was impressive.